Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (born 13 August 2000) is an Indian badminton player.[1][2] He and his partner, Chirag Shetty, are the first men's doubles pair from India to be ranked inside the top 10 of the BWF World Ranking, with a career-high ranking of 5.[3]
Early life and background
Rankireddy hails from a town named Amalapuram in the state of Andhra Pradesh and started playing badminton after following in the footsteps of his father, who was a state-level player in the past, as well his elder brother. In 2014, he joined the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad and decided to become a doubles specialist.[4]
In 2022, Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty started the year by winning India Open.[11] They were also part of India's Thomas Cup winning team. In the final, having lost the first game to the Indonesian duo of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Mohammad Ahsan, they displayed immense perseverance and tenacity to win the second game and close out the third game at 21–19, giving India a 2–0 lead over Indonesia. This was pivotal in helping India bag its maiden Thomas Cup trophy.[12] Rankireddy and Shetty then won the men's doubles gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, beating the home pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in the final.[13] At the BWF World Championships, Rankireddy and Shetty won a bronze medal, India's first-ever men's doubles medal at the tournament. They beat defending champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in the quarterfinals, but lost in the semi-finals to eventual champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.[14] They then won their first ever BWF World Super 750 title in the French Open by beating Chinese Taipei pair Lu Ching-yao and Yang Po-han in the finals.[15]
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[17] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.[18]
Men's doubles results with Chirag Shetty against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists. Accurate as of 13 November 2022.[19]
^"Rankireddy Satwiksairaj". Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
^Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
1
1
